If we are truly express our faith, we need to act.
not just to avoid doing things that are wrong,
as some doctrines seems to require of us,
but to do something positive
and to grow in our faith.
But what should we do? What should we do?


How to unravel the myths of child-hood
expose a thought-out, an adult, faith
when those very myths are seen
as the backbone of belief
the definitive creed?

How to undo the constructions of ages,
the biassed, buildings of religion
its turreted walls designed
to exclude heresy, sin,
which deny reality?

How to find a true and stable path
in the mire of conflicting beliefs
the dreams of ancient clerics
the mix of pagan myth
and fragile history?

How to share one's doubts with others
without causing fear-filled rejection?
How to tell out uncertain truth
amongst those deceived
yet bllndly certain?

How to undermine the religious castle
without slaughter of its defenders;
to remove the walls and turrets
of fixed and unthinking trust
without utter loss of faith?

How to risk exposing one's difference
without becoming separate from the herd?
How to deny the valued talismans of religion
without being cast out from our fellowship,
without separation from our friends?


For we must change our ways For we must change


Simplistic stories of unquestioned truth
Are undermined by adult knowledge.
The reality of life's experiences
And conflicts in the Christian body
Demolish the consolation of conformity.

Cracks expose the faulty underpinning.
The lack of thought, illogical convictions.
The need to rethink, to find another highway,
For this road has shown its imperfections;
The gaps that show the fires beneath.

Yet, what would Jesus have me do?
He has taken me from the place of comfort
Of rest in God's arms; of security and approval
. He has thrust me off the rock of conformity
Into the shifting sands of new ideas.

“Follow me” he said, and died,
which route we are bound to go, but how?
How to travel, who to greet along the way?
Are there other guides whom we should honour?
Are there other truths that we need to know?

Dare I renew my purpose, revise my path?
Have I the moral strength to face rejection,
when out and proud in non-conformity
facing anger, loss of fellowship,
alone?




There is no avenue of retreat There is no retreat


Once the toothpaste is out of the tube,
there is no way in which we can replace it.
We can not honestly revert to childlike beliefs
once simplistic certainty is undermined.

Instead we can only look more deeply,
challenge, research, and rethink what is truth,
for the ways of religion have shown their deficiciencies.
We have seen the bias of self-interest and self-promotion.
We have recognised the inconsistencies and false teaching.

We may ache to find a spiritual way that rings true;
maybe the way of Jesus freed of the doctrine
imposed by ancient ignorant theologians,
constrained by their own bounded faith.

Now, there is no avenue of retreat.
We can only go bravely forward.


We can only progress into the unknown future
faithfully confident in a God of love,
if uncertain of God's nature
or independent existence;
and the stories about
Him or Her or It.